Hildegard Hix papers

Hildegard Hix was on the Arvada Economic Development Association (AEDA) board of directors from 1978 until she resigned in 1997. The League of Women Voters studies topics on three levels. The national study items are chosen at the be-annual national convention. State studies are selected at the state convention, and local issues are decided upon by the member ship at their annual meeting. Thus, you will see United Nations studies on the national level, perhaps state education, or campaign reform on state level, and items of local/county concern at the local level. In some cases there may be metro leagues formed. Such was the case in the early 1970s when the Denver Metro area was finding that some problems cannot be solved by a single governmental entity and was working on the formation of the Denver Regional Council of Governments (DRCOG). League of Women Voters is a bottom up organization where all decisions are made by a consensus of the participants. They make the decisions on what to study at program planning meetings, on all levels. Some Studies are done to generate a consensus, some studies are done to update past studies, and some studies are purely informational. Education is an ever present study on the state and local levels. The majority of materials in this collection are in the growth and environmental areas, as these are topics that Hildegard Hix worked on. The land acquisitions, water issues, perception of cleanliness, and the building of the Beltway were of great interest to Arvada. Many citizens fought Arvada over sprawl, environmental issues, water, and the decisions made concerning the Rocky Flats. Hix was particularly involved in special topics involving environmental issues such as nuclear waste clean-up, land use, air pollution, solid waste disposal, and population growth. League work on energy began in the 1970s; in 1975 the LWVUs adopted a position supporting energy conservation as national policy. In 1976, the LWVUS board approved guidelines to implement the position. Since then, the League has made conservation the crux of its energy agenda, recognizing that the conservation of energy guarantees major long term benefits. The 1979 League council recommended that the LWVUS board review application of the Energy position to nuclear energy. The board subsequently determined that the League would work to minimize reliance on nuclear fission.